How do I make kombucha from scratch?

I've been meaning to make kombucha for a while now. I found a person a little over an hour away who has SCOBYs he will give me, but I never seem to make it up there to get them.

I have looked online and I can't seem to find a good guide to growing your own SCOBY from scratch. They all seem to start with a store-bought bottle of kombucha.

Anyone have any idea how to go about this, or how long it would take? Or is it just a better idea to get a SCOBY from someone? (It's been months I've been thinking of doing this and I can't help but feel I would have kombucha done by now if I had grown my own... if only I knew how.)

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7
Answers

You need to get a starter culture from somewhere, whether it's commercial kombucha or a donated or mail-order SCOBY. As far as I know, kombucha is not like sourdough: you can't get the right balance of the right microorganisms just using sugar-water and luck.

In my experiance brewing Kombucha is a pretty forgiving process... once you get a good SCOBI going (getting one from a friend is the best IMHO) it's fairly easy to keep the whole process going (exact ratios of sugar/tea/starter really aren't that important).

You dont need anything but tea, sugar and water. I made up a small batch of tea, did the same as making kombucha with out a scoby, and after 7 weeks had the beautiful healthy scoby with out the use of a commercial drink.
So folks it can be done!